Written on February 9, 2012 by Wiley Hayden
– Existing home sales in the U.S. rose for the third consecutive month in December, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Friday, with home sales rising to their highest level in almost a year.
NAR said existing home sales rose 5.0 percent to an annual rate of 4.61 million in December from a downwardly revised 4.39 million in November. Economists had expected sales to increase by 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.65 million from the 4.42 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the continued increase, existing home sales rose to their highest annual rate since coming in at 4.64 million in January of 2011.
Additionally, existing home sales are up by 3.6 percent compared to the 4.45 million-unit level recorded in December of 2010.
“The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.
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Written on February 5, 2012 by Julia Woodard
Yucheng Technologies Limited, British Virgin Islands-registered company headquartered in China and providing IT and outsourced services to the Chinese banking industry, has won the right to provide Business Intelligence solutions for one of the major national policy banks. The company will build upon its existing portfolio of BI products to deploy an internal reporting system, which will allow business divisions to access its operation reports well-structured and in an efficient manner.
IT system upgrade and the reporting system deployment of the bank are just one of many components in its overall BI solutions having the purpose to transform itself to become more commercial and compete directly with the big four banks and other major joint stock banks in China.
CEO of the BVI company Mr. Weidong Hong said in his comments: “We are pleased that we have been able to deepen our relationship with this newly acquired customer from a year ago. We
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Written on February 4, 2012 by Cheryl Rankins
All it took for former state Rep. Robert Molaro to nearly double his public pension was spending one month as an aide to Ald. Ed Burke, the powerful chairman of the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee. Among Molaro’s duties: Write a 19-page white paper about Chicago’s ailing pension funds. For his services, the former lawmaker was paid $12,000. That paycheck sent his pension soaring, as many lawmakers’ benefits are based on 85 percent of their final pay on the last day of service. When Molaro officially retired on Jan. 1, 2009, his pensionable salary would be calculated at $144,000 the amount he would have earned had he worked for Burke for a full year. Just one month earlier, on Dec. 4, 2008, Molaro had resigned from the state Legislature after serving about 15 years in the House and the Senate, making him eligible to receive a pension of about $64,000 based on his roughly $75,000 salary. But he didn’t file for his benefits right away. Read more…
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Written on January 24, 2012 by Wiley Hayden
When it comes to the Apple rumor mill, it’s never too soon to start gossiping about gadgets.
Even as Apple revels in the unprecedented success of the iPhone 4S launched this October, speculation is rife about the launch of iPad 3 and the iPhone 5.
iLounge reports that a well-trusted source suggests both the gadgets could gain in size when released in 2012. The iPhone 5 is on track to be introduced in summer of 2012, and is still in the engineering phase, not early production.
Apple iPad 3 to be thicker:- Though not much is known about the iPad 3, details posted online by iLounge indicate the next generation model will be 0.7 mm thicker than its predecessor. According to iLounge, the next iPhone, still in the early stages of development, will not use the tapered “teardrop” design as was rumored.
It is rumored that the iPad 3 will be upgraded to a retina display of 2048 x 1536 resolutions, double that of the iPad 2. The n
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Written on January 22, 2012 by Cheryl Rankins
Jerry Ferrara, who played the pot-smoking gofer Turtle on “Entourage,” needs a bigger shell to hide from the tax man. The IRS just hit the 32-year-old Brooklyn native with a $648,000 delinquent tax bill.
The tax lien landed two months after the end of “Entourage’s” eighth and final season.
Interesting local connection: In 2004, “Entourage” costar Jeremy Piven, who starred as agent Ari Gold, paid $3.5 million for an oceanfront home in Malibu, Calif., owned by former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios.
What’s owed:
- The IRS filed a $648,420 lien against Ferrara on Nov. 23 with the New York City Register’s Office.
His side:
Ferrara could not be reached for comment.
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